luke_mclachlan

ok guys and girls I've sent off a batch of e-mails just now with the link to the questionnaire. I finally opted for surveymonkey and paid a little money. As I mentioned in the emails, I have set up a company and protected the name of it, should I ever decide to go ahead with this idea of mine. But that is a long way off, I suspect. Many thanks / Luke oh yes, and if you still want to sign up, it's not too late ;-)

Come on now ladies and gents! 15 names on the list so thanks to all of you who have so far enlisted. But only 15 business owners here? Click on my name and send me a PM with the words "Luke count me in", it's that simple Questions will only take a few minutes to answer. My plan is to have the survey link sent tomorrow during the day so 24 hours to enlist. Come on now everyone

Hi Paper Rustler, for some reason I haven't received your pm, but I've pm'd you now. Thanks for that !!

keep em coming guys, nearly half way there

Thanks Marc Lewis, ash_smith123, Woodworks, PM's sent. 6 people on the list so far....come on everybody, I don't bite

Funny you should say that Triassic, I was looking at them but I have slightly more than 10 questions. so what I've done is set up a free account, published the survey and got my web friend to make me the same questions and format. little cheeky of me I suppose you're absolutely right about the bias, i want to avoid that completely. That's very kind of you to suggest this and help me out, very much appreciated Btw do you also want to participate?

Hi Marko, is that a yes or a no

Hi everyone, I've been pretty busy at work, plus working on a new project, hence the reason for my hibernation Since I was on here last I've been thinking of ways to make this a more transparent market for you biomass suppliers and also for your customers. I've got to the stage now that I have a business plan almost fully completed. A wacky plan that's almost fully on paper and it involves modernizing the search for renewable energy, to bring it into line with conventional gas and electricity. It sounds a little vague I know, but I'm trying not to reveal too much on an open forum just yet. However, before I go forward, I need to assure myself that I'm not wasting my energy on something that will generate zero revenue. So I wonder if I can get together a group of 25+ of you guys and girls to answer a questionnaire? The more the merrier in fact! It's 10 questions about current advertising, future advertising, comments and suggestions. It's best if you have a firewood business, even other forms of biomass. Could you please leave your interest here, and I'll get in contact with you via the PM's. It'll be an anonymous questionnaire for sure. I stopped purchasing biomass because of the complicated search process and I'm sure there are many other people like me. I'm now buying gas and I feel bad about it, but it's transparent and I know what I'm getting in terms of quality and price. I think I have the answer though and it could be good for your business Cheers / Luke

brilliant point StephF ! This was my biggest problem when I entered the renewable world. so easy to find a stove. so easy to find an installer. not so easy, relative to gas and oil, to find suitable logs/biomass.

...sounds like the perfect mortgage

Hi Alycidon, sorry for the silly question that's about to come...I have googled bulk blown pellets but can't find anything, could you (or someone else) enlighten me about the difference between them and bagged pellets? As far as I can see, the only difference is in how they are delivered. I find it strange why bulk blown is more expensive per kilo also, can't you get a fuel store added to your current unit? Have you contacted the manufacturer?

well i suppose it's best to carry on doing what we're doing then if that's the only alternative one day though these machines will (hopefully) run on biofuel !

very clean indeed...though you will want to check your img src code for qualifications and accreditations pages, they're currently pointing to the dev/images/content/ folder

i'll give my 2 cents... two things spring to mind: 1) wood, being a renewable energy, is being split by a process that requires the use of fossil fuels. this seems contradictory to me. or am i thinking silly? 2) such a long time to split one bit of log. seems very inefficient. and too much operator input. in my mind i'm thinking, "load log, split it in one fell swoop".

in sweden we use a chemical cleaning solution to get rid of all the crap (scrubbing using a semi-hard brush), then rinse this thoroughly with a high pressure washer (not too close), then apply an oil to protect the wood. i wouldn't use solely a high pressure washer, as Ashes_Firewood mentioned this can cause a woolly effect and splinters if you like to walk barefoot. cuprinol do a cleaner that i would probably use if i had decking at my home here in the UK: https://www.cuprinol.co.uk/products/decking_cleaner.jsp. edit: forgot to mention also that you can sand the decking, if it's that bad.

that's a very good point openspaceman, which is why a reliable means of converting loose to stacked (to kWh) is important. The only thing I'm worried about is that some suppliers may try to more loosely stack their loose loads, i.e give less logs per m3, should loose-m3 be the norm. What do you think? Especially if there is no regulation

Thanks Lucan. I have a stacked to loose factor of 0.64. I've ordered the blue book and I'll find out their methodology.

that's very kind of you, many thanks ! Copy ordered, will be an interesting read.

Yes sorry daltontrees, well pointed out, I should have mentioned that if weight is referenced then (a statistically significant/credible) moisture content has to be affixed !

well said, because A LOT of self-builders and regular home owners are becoming A LOT cleverer as to the relative costs of fuel and what kWh actually means. You guys are competing against pellets, ecological briquettes, solar energy, wind energy, GSHP's, as well as fossil fuel driven gas and electricity. If a customer asks the cost per kWh of your fuel and you say "what a nerd" you may be able to get away with this now, but not in a few years time

i won't take this the wrong way, all good constructive criticism i'm a foreign currency trader by trade so i love working with numbers and FORWARD THINKING (!), plus i believe that the way biomass is currently being advertised to consumers is to the detriment of both them and you guys, the suppliers. I had a wood stove installed recently and i'm not using it half as much as i intended, simply because of the fact that suppliers around my way are saying their wood gives off "loads of heat". Now imagine if british gas did that . I think that stacked-m3 is the best way to quote woodfuel when compared to loose-m3. What this forum has shown to me from day 1 is that some of you guys have very orderly loose loads, whilst elsewhere I have seen suppliers with very erratically piled logs. I know in canada, and no doubt other countries, the norm is stacked-m3. However, because wood is now being used more as a fuel, rather than some aesthetic centerpiece, suppliers should be considering quoting weight because (as you guys knows) it's weight, not volume, that dictates kWh. Oh yes, and many suppliers down my way quote per trailer, per truck load, per dumpy bag, it's just a nightmare comparing prices! I love numbers but even I couldn't be bothered working things out, especially when british gas can supply my (cheap 4.5p kWh) fuel with the flick of a switch. I stopped using my wood burner after only 2 weeks! Isn't this worrying for you guys???

Im going to have to source this blue bible, you guys are great ! Ive just landed and im going to have to take note of everything tomorrow. Especially the talk about density-weight-volume, and of course the impact moisture has upon swelling and hence volume (and if it is at all significant when referring to seasoned wood)!! So that a conversion factor relative to all the variables can be calculated. Some of you may wonder why this is important for me. Well, ive decided to create a simple to use kWh calculator.

Hi Sam, would you mind me asking what weight you found for the 1m3 bag of loose hardwood, seasoned? I've seen figures of 360kgs. cheers. sorry, silly of me, i could calculate it from your kwh calculations. Just to be sure, you were basing this one a m3 weight of 400kgs?

very interesting ! this weight-to-volume and loose-to-stacked stuff is very difficult all of a sudden, seems as though you guys are getting very different results to the men in white coats.